The Cleveland Cavaliers shouldn’t trade Kevin Love this summer. Even though Love’s numbers during the NBA Finals weren’t that impressive, this was mainly the result of a bad matchup for him. He was quite capable of excelling against the Eastern Conference opponents, and that is who the Cavaliers will mainly be facing in the coming years.

They will need to find a replacement for Richard Jefferson, who filled the role of stretch power forward when Love’s skills weren’t needed as much, but the max player can still provide valuable rebounding, passing and post play.

The Cavaliers must utilize Love on the block more often in the future if they keep him, but we seem to forget that this version of Cleveland has only been together for one full postseason. Their ceiling is basically unlimited in the next three years, and this is especially true if they are able to build continuity with the roster currently in place.

If the Cavaliers were offered Blake Griffin or Carmelo Anthony in a straight up trade for Love, then that is something they would seriously consider. Otherwise, they should keep their team intact while upgrading some of the bench players.

It would be interesting if Cleveland was able to work their way into the top of the draft, because Ben Simmons and Buddy Hield would both fit their rotation in different ways. The Cavaliers shouldn’t give up too much to get either guy, though.

James and company should have a summer full of celebrations thanks to bringing a championship to the Cavaliers, but the basketball world will expect them to defend their title against the Golden State Warriors. We’ll just have to see what adjustments, if any, the Cavaliers choose to make. But the one thing they shouldn’t do is overreact and ship out Love, because he was crucial for them during their run through the Eastern Conference’s elite teams.